When a conversation starts about Rothfire, it seems to bring on a Buffering-like glow in Robert Heathcote and with his stable star set to make a return to racing at Doomben, he is excited to see the now seven-year-old step out.
This will be Rothfire’s first race day outing since finishing fourth in the million-dollar QTIS Open (1300m) at Gold Coast in January which followed his victory in the King Of The Mountain (1200m) at Toowoomba on New Year’s Day.
Ligament injuries since curtailed a winter campaign but with the summer carnival in action, so is the gelding for the Group 3 George Moore Stakes over 1200-metres.”I’ve had a horror run of barrier draws for seemingly six months and I had to look twice to see that it was actually barrier one and not 11,” Heathcote said.
“But we’ve got the right draw for the right horse in the right race.
“Just to have him back is a win because he keeps defying veterinary evidence that he shouldn’t be here.”
Bailey Wheeler rode Rothfire in his recent trial but Heathcote has made a tough decision to forgo an otherwise handy claim with James Orman in the saddle for the George Moore.
“It is fair to say Rothfire could be a touch underdone going into it but one thing I’ve learned with horses like him and Buffering, they can patch over a lot of training mistakes as they’re that bloody good under pressure.
“They find more than the average horse.”
Rothfire, who will carry 61-kilos on Saturday, is rated a $6 chance for the George Moore while Prince Of Boom is at $9.
Likely leader Front Page holds favouritism at $3.40 with the Tony Gollan-trained Hidden Wealth at $5.
“Hidden Wealth and stablemate Zarastro are proven quality horses and Hidden Wealth went like a bomb the other day running sensational time,” he said of the main rivals with the former to carry 54-kilos.”
“It has got no weight but he hasn’t reached the level of Rothfire yet.”
Stablemate Prince Of Boom is looking to Magic Millions claims.
“We’re fortunate with him in that he’s eligible for The Syndicate race, the QTIS event and the spring so we’ve got three races we can choose for him,” he said.
“Fair to say he only had a fair winter carnival and he did have a few issues – a cut in his mouth that drove us crazy and the poor horse crazy – but we’ve got him back and he’s going well.”
Heathcote celebrated the return of Abounding winning first-up in the Listed Tattersall’s Classic (1200m) on Wednesday.